Ball’s Can-It-Forward Program; Giggle #Giveaway

Do you realize how hard it is for me to not make a joke right now?
When Ball jars contacted me a few weeks ago, I don’t think they realized what they got themselves into.
I write about content like balls.A lot.

In fact, I have written six posts in which the word ball was called into question.
That’s adult talk for “made me titter like a schoolgirl”.
Oh man, I just used the word titter.
In a sponsored post. Today though, I am sucking it up and being a good girl because I get to talk about three things I love:* conquering something new and scary* food* giving something to you lovely people and scary for sure because when Ball jars contacted me, little did they know they got a dud.
Oh sure, I am good at creating four-ingredient recipes or even creating new recipes.

Fine, it was Frito dip and I made it when I was 20 years old, stuck at home all alone and had nothing to do.
I SWEAR I HAD/HAVE A LIFE.
But I don’t know what gave Ball the idea that I was at all capable of doing something that Ma Ingalls could do.

My name is Kari and I don’t know how to can.

There.
I said it.
This summer, I went with my daughter to pick strawberries like we do every summer and then the extra usually goes in the freezer for smoothies.
But if we are being honest here,I usually forget about them, use the ones I bought at the store and end up with freezer burned strawberries and have to throw them out.
DO NOT CALL THE CRUNCHY PEOPLE ON ME.

This summer, I said out loud to no one, no more!!
I went on Pinterest immediately and thought, “I will make strawberry jam/jelly (hell if I know the difference) and do all of the canning!”.
All. Of. The. Canning.
Then I read words like seal and bacteria and I was all, “holy crap that is a lot of work. Nope.”
Freezer burned strawberry shortcake, anyone?

In what I like to call divine intervention, the Ball company sent me a canning cookbook and some mason jars to help me can all of the things.
With step by step instructions, on a page NOT on a website that I had to keep touching to stay “awake”.
I was doin’ this!
That’s right Pinterest maven’s*, EAT MY JELLY.
I could have said dirt but I am writing a sponsored post.

* I also would have used another word instead of maven that rhymes with witches but again, sponsored post.

So many pretty pictures of recipes that intimidate me to my core and I mean that in the best possible way.
I am a good cook if you do say so yourself.Aww, that is so sweet of you to say!
I love to cook but I don’t love to cook adventurously.
You lose me at words like “springform pan” and”coddle”.
Let’s just say I don’t like to travel too far outside of my comfort zone.

Is it wrong that the first thing I thought of when I opened the box was mason jar salads?
Oh, you Pinterest mavens*.
It was as I was perusing through the cookbook that I realized I was indeed doing all of the canning and immediately went into the fetal position.Breathe Kari, breathe.
So I did what I do best when faced with scary situations.
I called my mommy.

Superhero extraordinaire when it comes to cooking, baking and all things domestic.
Look how much fun they were having making Rice Krispie treats?
I mean, we all need someone in our lives who can make cereal, butter, and marshmallow look like a stand-up comedy routine, am I right?
I knew my mom was just the person to help me with all of the canning.
I bet we would be laughing like this or brushing each other’s hair by the end.

I cracked open my beautiful new cookbook and decided that I was going to start my canning venture with something simple: salsa.
I mean, how hard can salsa be?

I had most of the ingredients and that is how I decide to make most of my recipes.
Mom came over on a weekday and we got down to salsa making.
I should mention that I had a 16-week old puppy, a teenager going through work drama and texting me every two minutes about it and an 8-year-old who was bored.
We tried to get her in on the salsa making but we lost her at seal and bacteria.
The apple doesn’t fall far.

My mom is an expert chopper of everything.
She did the jalapenos, tomatoes, and cilantro for the salsa.
To be clear, I did chop the onion and garlic.
But I am frightened of jalapenos because of the 2002 guacamole incident.
Long story for another blog post.

The aforementioned veggies.
Which turned out to be the easy part.
Apparently, there is a lot of bacteria prevention in canning.
We spent most of our salsa-making preventing people from dying after eating our salsa.
Which made me appreciate the jars of salsa I have ever bought on a store shelf as well as Ma Ingalls.

*Cute puppy alert.

Here is our new doggie Buddy, “helping”.
I LOVE HIM SO MUCH.

Onward.

We made salsa!
But this was just the beginning.
Back into the bath, the salsa went because we don’t want people to die eating it.

Oh and apparently I used the wrong size jar for all of the salsa we were going to make.
It only made two jars.
Two BIG jars.
One for my mom and one for me.
I mean for our families.
No, I actually did mean one for me.
No shame.

Then it had to sit for 12 hours.
Instant gratification is not in canning.
But when it was done?

I had made salsa!
Scratch that.
My mom made salsa and I helped a little too!

In honor of National Canning Day on July 22nd, I think you need to get your can to the store and get some Ball jars and make salsa.Or jam or anything else you well, please.And as you know, I never leave you out.

So I am giving away a Ball Cookbook just like mine, as well as a $5.00 off coupon on your next purchase of Ball jars so you can get canning!

Just leave me a comment below telling me what canning project would you take on.Simple as that!The winner will be picked next Thursday!

If you would like to follow along with all of the fun tomorrow on Can-It-Forward Day, head to the Ball Tumblr page here.They will also be hosting live canning demonstrations on Facebook tomorrow as well.And I will be eating my salsa while watching.Take THAT Pinterest maven’s. *

This post was sponsored by Ball Jars. I was provided product in exchange for this post.

Oh, my goodness, you make me laugh. And practically cry at the sight of that adorable puppy.Could you and your mom please come to my house and help me learn to can things? You're right–it's so tempting to want to do something that Ma Ingalls did. My mom did a little canning one year when we lived in the country and had a huge garden, but unfortunately I wasn't paying attention. I'd love to learn to can SOMETHING!

Oh, I love canning but, I don’t do it near enough. I have a pressure canner just sitting there all lonely too. I’m like you in that I don’t get adventurous with cooking. It’s always easy; no frills. Thanks for sharing this with us at Funtastic Friday! I had a ball 😉

Welcome!

“Stories have to be told or they die, and when they die, we can’t remember who we are or why we’re here.”

-Sue Monk Kidd

“Humor is healing.”

-Bonnie Hunt

“Well, you think what you want about me, I’m not changing. I like me…’Cause I’m the real article. What you see is what you get.”

-Del Griffith

“All of these lines across my face tell you the story of who I am. So many stories of where I’ve been and how I got to where I am. But these stories don’t mean anything when you’ve got no one to tell them to.”